Bin Laden's men get ultimatum to surrender today

Hundreds of Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda fighters, trapped in a remote mountain valley near Tora Bora, have been reportedly given until this morning to surrender to Afghan opposition forces.

During the day they had been driven out of many of their last cave complexes on the windswept mountains, as opposition troops, backed by heavy tank fire, took position after position that had been pulverised by heavy US bombing.

Mr Mohammed Zaman, defence chief for the tribal eastern alliance, called a pause in fighting and said he gave Al-Qaeda forces an ultimatum to surrender by 8 a.m. local time today or face a new attack.

US officials said they could not verify the likely surrender, but reports from the area showed anti-Taliban forces making major gains. There were no reports, however, of the current location of the Al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, although sources believe he was recently in Tora Bora.

Pakistan intelligence officials said their country had deployed 4,000 troops along a 25-mile stretch of border and stepped up aerial surveillance to block possible escape routes for bin Laden or his men.

Marking three months since the deadly attacks of September 11th, President Bush pledged that "no cave is deep enough to escape the patient justice of the USA".

Indicating the next phase of the war on terror, he said that "rogue states" which could provide terrorists with chemical, biological and nuclear weapons "will be regarded as hostile regimes".

The US Justice Department yesterday announced the first domestic charges relating to the September 11th attacks. Mr Zacharias Moussaoui, a French-Moroccan, who was detained on immigration charges in August and was in custody when the attack happened, was charged in a federal court in east Virginia with six conspiracy offences related to the hijackings. Four of the charges carry a possible death penalty.

The charge sheet implies that the accused was supposed to be the 20th member of the terrorist team and suggests that the FBI has evidence that a plot existed involving chemical, biological or even nuclear weapons.

As the Taliban collapses, diplomatic efforts to chart the future of Afghnistan continue. In Paris the US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, said that Britain will lead the peacekeeping force for Kabul.

"I'm pleased that the UK is willing to step forward and volunteer for a leadership role." he said. The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, indicated that it would take the lead role, although he said no formal decision had been taken.

The US authorities have been given assurances that the peacekeeping forces will hand over captured Al-Qaeda leaders unconditionally to US troops, the Defence Secretary, Mr Don Rumsfeld said yesterday. That is despite EU policy not to extradite suspects for trial in the US unless assurances are received that they will not be subject to the death penalty.